Field of the Invention
This invention relates to heat treating a tool. Specifically, this invention relates to heat treating a bladed hand tool, particularly a bladed pliers.
Background of the Invention and Discussion of the Prior Art
The prior art generated a single collimated or columnar laser beam to heat treat a hand tool. Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown the prior art thermal image depiction or profile of the single columnar laser beam, generally referred to in the art as the “top hat” 10. The generated operable thermal energy is disposed at the base 11 of the top hat 10, and is generated from the collimated beam 16. The operable thermal energy has a consistent value across the base 11 of the top hat 10. The base 11 is operably disposed above the hand tool (not shown in FIG. 1) While the top hat is somewhat effective for heat treating equal mass portions of the hand tool, such as pliers' teeth, the top hat produced indiscriminate heat treatment for differently configured and different mass portions of a hand tool. This is particularly so with respect to a blade cutting edge and an opposed anvil of a bladed pliers. FIG. 3 shows the prior art resultant heat treating effects of blade edge 13 and anvil 12 of pliers 14. The shaded portions 15a and 15b indiscriminately cover both the blade edge portion 13 and the opposed anvil portion 12. An undesired heat treatment resulted from the use of the top hat 10 for a bladed pliers.
The art desires a method and apparatus for selectively heat treating distinctly different portions of a hand tool. The art desires a solution as aforesaid particularly in which a hand tool blade edge is effectively heat treated while another portion of a different mass and configuration of the bladed hand tool, particularly the anvil portion, is simultaneously effectively heat treated.
The present invention provides a solution to the aforesaid art needs.